http://www.german-embassy.org.uk/world_cup_2006.html#cdown[^] finally, the wait has been painful Go US! I know, I know, but can't I at least dream?

A couple of hints you may find helpful. First, open up the IDE->Tools->Options->Project->VB Defaults, and make sure to make Option Strict On the default option so that you don't have to do so for every project. Second, by default C# allows you to edit code while in debug mode, VB does not. If you want to change this, open up the IDE->Tools->Options->Debugging-Edit & Continue, and check the option 'allow me to edit VB files while debugging' Third, you may or may not want to modify the VB text editor properties, perhaps decrease the indent size, etc... to do so, open up the IDE->Tools->Options->Text Editor->Basic and take a look and see what you like and what you don't like. Fourth, you may or may not want to for each and every VB project, Project->Properties->Commom Properties->General, and remove the rootnamespace value only so that you have to explicitly declare the any and all namespaces the way you're use to in C#. The only reason I make a habit of doing this is just to make the coding habits standard whenever I switck back and forth just to avoid confusion. Fifth, you may or may not want to remove all the global project imports (include) from your VB project so that you're forced to explicitly include any namespace you use in the code file. Again, sometimes it's useful to include for example the System namespace just to avoid having to do so manually for each code file, however, just to keep the coding habits standard across both languages and thereby avoid possible confusion when having to switch back and forth, I would recommend that you always remove all global project imports, although I will admit that I fine this feature useful, especially during UI development when I just want to get it over with as soon as possible. Project->Properties->Commom Properties->Imports Sixth, if possible given your project, Project->Properties->Configuration Properties->Optimizations, remove integer overflow checks and enable optimizations. Why this is not the default is beyond me. Seven, Project->Properties->Configuration Properties->Build, you may or may not want to treat compiler warnings as errors. VB is the easiest language in the world so don't even worry about it. Suerte!

I don’t watch a whole lot of television, although when I get home in the evenings around 7PM or so I try to catch some news just to see what’s going on in the world. Well, last night I wish I had not done so. It seems that additional details have arisen regarding the brutal rape and murder of the 9 year old Jessica Lunsford (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7578059/[^]). When you hear the words rape and murder in the same sentence one can reasonably assume that things cannot get any worse for the person involved. However, for this innocent child things were definitely worst: she was buried alive. Bad things happen in the world every day and at every minute: terrorism, war, natural disasters, starvation, rape, murder, and the list goes on and on with just about every bad thing you can think of. By now I would think everyone has adapted to the horrors of the times, such that when we hear bad news its impact on us is minor, perhaps non existent. However, this particular case has taken its toll on me. I’m a father, one three year old girl and a baby of only seven months, both of which I love more than anything else, above and beyond my own life. I just cannot imagine the pain this girl’s parents are feeling at this very moment and will continue to feel for the rest of their lives, no doubt a wound that will never heal. My eyes are watery as I write this thread, an occasional tear hear and there. Sadness? No doubt. Rage? That too. Sometimes I bitch and moan about life, about money usually, always wanting more and more. Bills to pay, mouths to feed, backs to clothe, education to provide, and of course everyone wants those extra luxuries. Yet it's events like these that make me pause, think, and realize how good I really have it. I may not have that beamer I’ve always wanted or that mansion up in the hills, but I do have my two little girls, and that’s worth infinity. Yet, however, more often than not I’m foolish enough to take this fact for granted. Perhaps little Jessica’s parents took her for granted as well, that is, expected her to always be there with her arms wide open, as if it such were a right rather than a privilege. Don’t we all take our children for granted? I know I have. We see and care for them every single day, expecting the next day to be just like the prior one, on so on and so forth. Indeed my eyes have been opened by this case. Nothing in

can an error message be any less informative? "an unknown error has occurred while accessing an unnamed file" gee, great! what a way to start an installation tech support session :(( there's only one thing I hate more than UI development and that's tech support.

Daniel Turini wrote: "This week, during a soccer game, an Argentinean player insulted a Brazilian player." First of all, I can't believe I missed this game! Brazil vs Argentina is no doubt a soccer classic, indeed two soccer super powers, although Brazil IMHO has proven to be a superior soccer force than any other country given its performance in the last several world cups. Second, what I am about to say is off topic and no doubt contraversial, some may even call it a racist generalization, and indeed it may be. However, given my experience in life, the people I've worked with, my years abroad in Chile, the news I've watched and read, history, etc..., it should not surprise anyone that a "typical" argentenian considers himself or herself superior to anyone else on the sole basis of being argentenian. I know, I know, this is no doubt a generalization; there are definitely lots of exceptions to the rule, at least so they say, because I myself have come across very few. There's a classic joke about this: why is it that an argentenian spy is always discovered? Because he has a huge sign on the back of his jacket that says "I'm the best spy in the world!". Yes, go ahead and rate this reply a 1. What can I say? Experience has to prove me otherwise. Back to your topic though, in the US I don't think, though I'm not sure, making a racial insult will result in jail time. However, I dare anyone to go down to Compton, Watts, South Central, etc... and make one against african americans; You will no dount leave there either dead or very close to dead. Finally, regarding the argentenian player, I don't think any charges should be pressed against him. After all, when you're in the heat of the battle within a soccer field almost anything goes, especially when you're talking about Brazil vs Argentina. Had I been the brazilian player I would have probably responded with something like, "negro y qué!, argentino de la **********"

...the hard way that you should never use a reference as a key to a value within a hashtable! Someone please tell me what an idiot I am for having done so in the first place! :doh:

first of all, good discussion you had with CG, I enjoyed it a whole bunch! :-D Dave Kreskowiak wrote: "I for one, don't EVER leave a return value to chance, in any language. I've always used the Return statement and I've always set a default value as one of my first statements in my methods/functions." More often than not I take advantage of the fact that the VB compiler returns the default value of a function's return type in cases where one is not provided. Why you ask? Well, it's just handy on occasions, especially during the dreaded task of UI development, where my focus is just to program against an interface, forgetting about all the implementation behind that interface. I know all I have to do is just add that one line of code you say you always add, but I just don't even worry about that, rather I just define the interface I want to work against and implement it later. I'll admit I have experienced some debugging issues as a result of doing so; that's why I wish the compiler would treat the issue as a warning, but not an error. Also, another area where I heavily use this behavior is when creating "abstract base forms". I'm sure you know that the form designer requires that the base form have a parameterless public constructor; otherwise, it blows up. Well, then how do you create an abstract base form to be used with the form designer? Well, you can't, at least I haven't been able to. So what I do is just create a non abstract base form with a series of virtual methods that don't return anything rather raise an exception when called directly, the intent being that the derived form needs to override them so that any template methods work OK. Again, I know, I know, I should just add that one line of code you add, but what can I say, I just don't, and in this case, why should I? So really, I have to disagree with you and CG. CG says it's just straight out bad, you say it's OK but you make sure never to fall to it, I say it's OK always, but that compiler should give a warning. Finally, I once asked CG the same question, that is, what's his problem with VB. At first I just couldn't understand, but then I tried to put myself in his position of having to go through the painful task of having to work on shitty VB code and then his feelings seemed quite clear, although his famous words "VB.NET is crap" always make the hairs on my arms stand up in fury :mad:. Thanks for the discussion :-D

...what it feels like to eat 2 ultimate cheeseburgers from Jack in the Box, one right after the other? In case you don't, don't do it. It's not good! :doh:

Given that beta 2 is almost out, although who really knows, I would probably wait, for stability reasons only, since beta 2 is promised to be much more stable than beta 1. Also, you don't planning on installing it on a production machine, do ya? If so, be prepared to encounter all types of weird issues, at least I did; my 2003 installation literally became toast once I installed 2005 beta 1. Also, 2005 installs MDAC version 9.X, which you can't remove. MDAC is like a loaded gun waiting to fire. But then again, you've been waiting so long for it, you might as well; who knows when beta 2 will be out. I attended VS Live in Feb, and they said it would be out in six weeks, well, it's been six weeks and still nothing. Just make sure you don't take lightly the warning the install gives you that installing beta 1 may jack up your machine to the extent you have to reformat.

Maybe lots of CIO folks have their strategy based on Java or VB COM and there .NET is too big a change :^)? I'm just guessing

Since I am so lazy I have always, since my VB COM days, relied on the CSLA[^] taught by Rockford Lhotka. Perhaps you've read about it, or perhaps not, since some C people, I'm not saying you, would rather be stranded on a desert island than read the writings of a vb programmer. good luck, oh, and by the way and way off topic, when do you plan on releasing the algorithm? Will there be an article with it? :->, or am I pushing my luck :-D

I thought you were already one ;P Congrads!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D

What can I say other than you're right :^).

I highly doubt it :-D. MDAC is a monster I would rather stay away from. Here's another tool though http://www.macropool.com/en/download/repair_mdac.html[^]

yes, msde does require mdac

I ask you the same thing I constantly ask my wife! Why do you punish yourself? Same deal with her, she loves eating crap that ends up jacking up her teeth, and then she starts whining :mad:. What is up with you women anyway :laugh:? No offense intended, but I just don't understand. That's why my two little girls know never to eat candy around daddy, unless they want daddy to yank the candy out of their mouths and top it off with a spanking on the behind.

So I assume you ended getting that C++ job you were talking about? Good for you. Which compiler out of curiosity (ms, borland)?

SQL too, I just cleared that doubt up http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315467[^]

Yes, even for SQL, although I just now cleared that doubt up http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315467[^]

Certainly for the oledb provider MDAC is required, but now I am curious whether it's required when accessing SQL through the native sql provider, I'm not sure.